How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed
2/5
()
About this ebook
How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed is an easy-to-understand hospital-survival guide. This handbook explains what kinds of mistakes can and do happen in the hospital and how to prevent them from happening to you. It contains inside information and secrets as told by a nurse who has worked in various hospitals and healthcare facilities in different nursing departments, in two different states, and has "been there and done that." This book will teach you how to protect yourself, from the time you arrive at the Hospital Admissions Office to the time you leave the hospital. The subjects covered include what personal information you'll be asked to provide the hospital, what a routine day in the hospital is like, the importance of not assuming anything, how to prevent being mistaken for another patient, how to talk to the doctor(s) and other healthcare workers, how to prevent medication errors, how to protect yourself from surgical mistakes, and much more. The book also contains an Index, a Glossary of Medical Terms, a Bibliography, and a list of Useful Organizations that can help you with specific problems. This street-smart guide will be useful to patients, would-be patients, and anyone with family, friends or acquaintances they want to protect from medical mistakes or errors.
Mary Lorrie Davis
A native New Yorker, Mary Lorrie Davis has been a Licensed Vocational Nurse for 20 years. She has practiced in New York and California in many hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes/facilities. She has been in charge, or supervised, or done bedside care in almost all services. Ms. Davis has also worked as a performer in New York, and appeared in the Broadway productions of Hair and Bubbling Brown Sugar, among other shows. In 1973, she wrote Letting Down My Hair, about her experiences in the "tribal love rock musical," which was published by Arthur Fields Books. The book is due to be reissued in 2002. Contact Ms. Davis via email at HospitalBook@earthlink.net
Related to How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed
Related ebooks
The Demon Seeds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscaping the Pen: How Lessons from Doing Time Can Set You Free Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMilitary Veterans Travel Guide to VA Services Locations In All 50 States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDyer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhatever Happened To...?: Catching Up with Canadian Icons Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All The Way Down: The Violent Underworld Of Street Gangs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Making of a Funeral Director Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImmigrant City: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845-1921 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReal Prison Real Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scandals in History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDisability and Health Sourcebook, Fifth Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Counselor and the Law: A Guide to Legal and Ethical Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeap Into History: John Dillinger in Delaware County, Indiana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoundsville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere's Your Mother, George? The True Crime of George Schneider Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbused? Who Me? How to Recognize Abuse and Help Yourself or Others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of Flint Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kneeling Corpse Murders: Leslie 'Mad Dog' Irvin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShotgun Justice: One Prosecutor's Crusade Against Crime & Corruption in Alexandria & Arlington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack and Blue: Understanding Modern Law Enforcement in Your America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust Trying to Have School: The Struggle for Desegregation in Mississippi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSubprime Felon: Inside Federal Prison Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Nut With A Gun Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Psychiatry in New Mexico 1889-1989 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Practitioner's Handbook to the Social Services Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold Case Muncie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAwful, Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaleigh: A Brief History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModern Day Witch Hunt - Over with, we Hope - Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wellness For You
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Illustrated Easy Way to Stop Drinking: Free At Last! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Hacks: Over 100 Tricks, Shortcuts, and Secrets to Set Your Sex Life on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman's Guide to Oral Sex: Your guide to incredible, exhilarating, sensational sex Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brain Hacks: 200+ Ways to Boost Your Brain Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Body Says No Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Anna Lembke's Dopamine Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Lindsay C. Gibson's Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemy of Herbs - A Beginner's Guide: Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Language of Your Body: The Essential Guide to Health and Wellness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5She had an unrealistic trust of doctors. Nurses know the patients much more and are the patient advocates.
Book preview
How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed - Mary Lorrie Davis
© Copyright 2001 Mary Lorrie Davis. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Editor: Julia Smath-LeFebvre. editit@bestweb.net
Book Title design: Mary Lorrie Davis
Cover Illustration: Jim Smath
Book design, typesetting: Roy Diment
Vivencia Resources Group. www.inetex.com/vivencia
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Davis, Mary Lorrie.
How to survive a stay in the hospital without getting killed.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55212-832-6
1. Hospital patients. 2. Hospital care. I. Title.
RA965.6.D39 2001 362.1’1 C2001-911013-8
First Edition
Image366.JPGThis book was published on-demand in cooperation with Trafford Publishing.
On-demand publishing is a unique process and service of making a book available for retail sale to the public taking advantage of on-demand manufacturing and Internet marketing.
On-demand publishing includes promotions, retail sales, manufacturing, order fulfilment, accounting and collecting royalties on behalf of the author.
Suite 6E, 2333 Government St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4P4, CANADA
Phone 250-383-6864 Toll-free 1-888-232-4444 (Canada & US)
Fax 250-383-6804 E-mail sales@trafford.com
WEB SITE WWW.TRAFFORD.COM trafford publishing is a division of trafford holdings ltd.
Trafford Catalogue #01-0232 www.trafford.com/robots/01-0232.html
10 9 8 7 6 5 4
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
STATEMENT FROM THE AUTHOR
INTRODUCTION
♦ 1 ♦
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
♦ 2 ♦
PATIENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS
♦ 3 ♦
PATIENTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
-4-
WHO’S WHO
♦ 5 ♦
A DAY IN THE HOSPITAL
♦ 6 ♦
The Name Game
♦ 7 ♦
ASSUMPTIONS
♦ 8 ♦
Doctors
♦ 9 ♦
Medications
♦ 10 ♦
Surgery
♦ 11 ♦
INFECTIONS
♦ 12 ♦
Death
♦ 13 ♦
For the Patient and the Visitors
Bibliography
Useful Organizations
Glossary of Medical Terms
To the Memory of
My nephew and friend, Robert John Davis, who gave me the inspiration to finish this book.
My patient, Tony Barzaga, the beautiful, gentle little boy who will always occupy a special place in my heart.
My mother, Vesta Harrington-Davis, who taught me that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special Thanks to:
All the healthcare providers and patients who gave me information for this book. At their request, their names shall remain anonymous.
My niece, Norma Jean Alexander, my brother, Johnny A. Davis, and my friends, Susan Booker, Didier C. Deutsch, Chet Dowling, Victor Petryakov, and Elizabeth Schwartz for their faith, help, and support.
My friend, Serena McDonough, for sharing her computer knowledge with me and never losing faith in the project.
My long-time friend, Julia Smath-LeFebvre, who took on the task of editing this book because we are friends. And to her wonderful husband, Roger LeFebvre, whose inspiration and enthusiasm will never be forgotten.
All of these people had their own trials and tribulations to deal with. Yet, they found the time, and cared enough about me to help me with this project. For that I will be forever grateful. Everyone needs people like these in their lives. I know how blessed I am to have them in mine.
STATEMENT FROM THE AUTHOR
The information in this book is based on my 20 years’ experience as a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN). I have worked in hospitals and other healthcare facilities as a staff member, and through Nurses’ Registries/Agencies, in two different states (New York and California). I’ve worked in every nursing unit except the emergency room and the operating room.
How to Survive a Stay in the Hospital Without Getting Killed
is not intended to be an indictment of the healthcare workers or the facilities. Most of us are hard-working, concerned, honest and knowledgeable people. We care. That’s why we’re there. Think about it. It’s not the cleanest, best-paying job in the world. I believe it takes special people to be healthcare providers. But even special people make mistakes.
INTRODUCTION
In the last 20 years, technological advances and discoveries in the medical field have made the ability to diagnose and treat patients 100% better. Unfortunately, I’ve seen the quality of patient care get sloppier, more careless, thoughtless, cold and heartless as the years go by. These mistakes, accidents, incidents, misfortunes, or errors can range anywhere from giving a patient the wrong diet tray to doing the wrong operation on the wrong patient, to sending a live patient to the morgue. Giving a patient the wrong diet tray may sound harmless, unless you’re dealing with a patient for whom the doctor ordered NPO (nothing by mouth), or who’s scheduled for surgery, or is a diabetic.
From June 1997 to December 1998, 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps occurred at veterans’ hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients died in those cases, as reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the New York Times.
In November 1999, the Washington Post reported that as many as 98,000 Americans die unnecessarily every year from medical mistakes made by physicians, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals…
and that medical errors may be the fifth leading cause of death, behind heart disease, cancer, stroke, and obstructive lung disease.
Yes, the news media is constantly featuring stories of medical mishaps. I believe these stories are just a drop in the bucket. In the 20 years that